1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coaxial electrical connector configured to allow for mating and separation of two connector parts such that their tubular contacts make contact with and separate from each other, and a coaxial electrical connector assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commonly, electrical connectors electrically connecting various signal transmission media such as coaxial cables are widely used in various electrical devices and the like. A coaxial electrical connector shown in FIG. 10, for example, includes a receptacle connector 1 used as mounted on a printed wiring board P, and a plug connector 2 having a terminal portion of a coaxial cable as a signal transmission medium (see reference symbol SC in FIG. 1 illustrating the present invention) coupled thereto, this plug connector being configured to mate with and be removed from the former in an up and down direction of the drawing. The receptacle connector 1 includes a plate-like insulating housing 1a, with a center contact 1b for signal transmission and an outer contact 1c for connection to ground attached to the housing substantially concentrically. The plug connector 2 configured as the coupling counterpart includes a center contact 2b for signal transmission and an outer contact 2c for connection to ground attached substantially concentrically, inside and outside an insulating housing 2a thereof. When the plug connector 2 is inserted from above downward onto this receptacle connector 1, the center contacts 1b and 2b, and the outer contacts 1c and 2c, contact each other such as to overlap each other radially inside and outside for establishing electrical connection.
With the trend to reduce the size and thickness of electronic devices in recent years, the demand for reducing the size, in particular the height, of coaxial electrical connectors, is increasing. In the patent literature listed below, for example, a configuration is adopted where a coaxial electrical connector is dropped in or inserted in a connector mounting portion formed as a recess or through hole in a printed wiring board, thereby to reduce the mounting height of the coaxial electrical connector.
In these prior art coaxial electrical connectors, however, retaining of the connector on the printed wiring board is achieved by the solder joint strength between terminals such as conductive contacts and the printed wiring board. Therefore, the terminals such as conductive contacts or solder joints may be subjected to a concentrated load when the counterpart electrical connector (plug connector) is mated with or removed from the connector, because of which components such as conductive contacts may be deformed, or solder joints may be peeled off.
We disclose information to be material of prior art to patentability as follows.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 03-119976    Patent Literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-42985